AT THE DRIVE IN – ‘in-ter a-li-a’ Album Review

AT THE DRIVE IN – in-ter a-li-a

At The Drive In have just returned from a successful short tour of the USA and will release their new album, in-ter a-li-a, on May 5th on Rise Records. The album will be a nice set up for their appearances at the Leeds and Reading festivals this August.

The album opens with No Wolf Like The Present, a fast paced and powerful song with a math punk rhythm, strong guitar chords and some burning throat vocals. It’s a manic start to the album and the energy continues throughout. Continuum cascades from the opening to a whirlwind of backing instruments as the vocals are delivered through various effects with a megaphone the most prevalent. At The Drive In create a unique sound with dual guitars and strong drums/bass and this formula is on full display with Tilting At The Univendor.

Governed By Contagions (video below) crafts a menacing air with a Joy Division like sound albeit with a slightly faster and more aggressive vocal. There are eleven tracks on the album and each is given time to grow, create different soundscapes but all are belligerent and powerful with Pendulum In A Peasant Dress and Incurably Innocent exploring territory of math-punk and emo/My Chemical Romance.

Call Broken Arrow begins with ambient noise and then an atonal guitar introduces an almost spoken/shouted word vocal delivered full-pelt. Hotzclaw offers a more melodic approach and is a more accessible alternative rock song that is well played and one of the highlights of the album for me.

On Ghost Tape, falsetto vocals and atonal guitars create an eerie atmosphere appropriate for the song title and rather goth-punk in approach. Last up is the new single, Hostage Stamps, with it’s full on math-punk rhythms and approach with complicated interplay of the instruments and vocals.

At The Drive In are a very different band with post-punk/math-punk/emo tendencies mashed into something that you don’t hear everyday.